Gippsland Basin JV renews offshore exploration permit
A joint venture between Hibiscus Petroleum and 3D Oil has been granted renewal of exploration permit VIC/P57 in the Gippsland Basin offshore Australia for a further five year term.
3D Oil said on Wednesday that the extension was granted to a joint venture of Carnarvon Hibiscus Pty Ltd (CHPL) and Gippsland Hibiscus, both subsidiaries of Malaysian company Hibiscus Petroleum, and 3D Oil. Hibiscus is the concession operator.
The permit has been optimized for an area dense with high potential leads and prospects including at least one gas prospect.
3D Oil added that a thorough prospectivity review was conducted throughout the last 18 months which revealed that VIC/P57 contains significant remaining commercial potential.
Six leads and prospects were identified, the highest value of these include the Felix and Pointer prospects.
Felix is a classic, low-risk Upper Latrobe Group oil and gas target, located between the Wirrah discovery and Moonfish field. The Pointer prospect is a Type II AVO supported gas prospect with a best estimate prospective resource of 235 BCF. It is at shallow drilling depths (less than 2,000 meters), situated in shallow water and close to existing infrastructure.
3D Oil said that the minimum guaranteed work-program, to be fulfilled within the first three years of the renewal term, includes 230 square kilometers of seismic reprocessing accompanied by geological and geophysical studies.
This will determine the most likely structural configuration and accurate oil and gas volume of the Felix prospect, provide a clearer understanding of the Pointer AVO anomaly and, assess the Emperor sub-group stratigraphy for additional gas prospects.
According to CGG, who is currently undertaking the Gippsland ReGeneration Reprocessing project, there are many areas of improvement that will undoubtedly result in enhanced imaging of the sub-surface.
These techniques have recently been applied in the eastern Gippsland Basin, at the previously poorly understood Dory gas discovery.
